Samsung has “never” considered buying the Canadian
mobile-phone maker, and there has been no contact between the
two companies, James Chung, a Seoul-based spokesman for Samsung,
said by telephone. Samsung also isn’t interested in using RIM’s
software through a licensing deal, he said.

RIM advanced to $17.47 at the close in New York trading
yesterday after the BGR blog reported Samsung may be interested
in buying the company and that no deal has been made because
Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM is asking too much. The blog didn’t
identify its sources. Shares in RIM dropped 75 percent last year
as the company lost market share to Apple Inc. and Android-device makers including Samsung.

Tenille Kennedy, a spokeswoman for RIM, declined to comment
on the report yesterday.

The slump in RIM’s share price prompted investment firm
Jaguar Financial Corp. to call for RIM to split into separate
companies, seek a buyer and shake up management.

The company’s share of U.S. mobile-phone subscribers in the
three months through November dropped to 6.5 percent from 7.1
percent in the previous quarter, according to research firm
ComScore Inc. Samsung, the biggest maker of Android devices,
increased its share to 25.6 percent from 25.3 percent, and Apple
gained 1.4 percentage points to 11.2 percent.

Acquisition Speculation

Samsung also makes phones based on Microsoft Corp.’s
Windows Phone operating system and its own Bada software.

With 22 trillion won ($19 billion) in cash and equivalents
as of Sept. 30, Samsung has been the subject of acquisition
speculation. Samsung ruled out purchasing Hewlett-Packard Co.’s
personal-computer business and WebOS software last year.

Samsung said this week it’s seeking to raise money through
its first U.S. dollar-denominated bonds since 2004. The company,
a supplier to Apple, plans to expand production capacity at a
Texas factory making chips used in mobile devices.